FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HAMID KARZAI - PAGE 4

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The new chairman of Afghanistan's parliament, Yunus Qanooni, said yesterday he would resign as leader of the opposition and support the government of Afghanistan in the interests of the people. His comments, at a news conference in the parliament building, were seen as a peace offering to President Hamid Karzai, whom he has opposed since leaving the government in 2004 to run against him in the presidential race. "I cannot at the same time be chairman of the House of People and opposition of the government," he said as representatives were voting for the two deputy chairmen of the parliament.

An Afghan named Abdul Rahman, who converted to Christianity in the early 1990s, is now on trial for apostasy and faces the death penalty. His estranged family brought the lawsuit that put him in jeopardy. The courts in Afghanistan are controlled by extremely conservative Islamic judges, and though there is international pressure on President Hamid Karzai to intervene, it would be at great political cost, and he has declined to get involved. Mr. Rahman was told by the judge hearing his case that if he reconverts back to Islam, he will be let go. He says he would just as soon die for his faith; wary prosecutors are now exploring the idea that he is insane.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan signaled an improvement in relations between their two countries after an unusually cordial meeting here yesterday and called for greater cooperation in fighting terrorism. Karzai was on a two-day visit to the Pakistani capital, where he would also meet with the opposition politician Benazir Bhutto, a statement from the Afghan president's office said. Bhutto is contesting parliamentary elections scheduled for January.

KABUL, Afghanistan - - Electoral officials Monday canceled Saturday's planned Afghan presidential runoff and declared incumbent Hamid Karzai the victor. The decision, announced by the government-appointed Independent Electoral Commission, ended more than two months of uncertainty stemming from an election that was marred by fraud. The U.S. and the United Nations quickly lined up in support of Karzai, who is to serve another five-year term. "We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him," the U.S. Embassy said in statement.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's accusation that western interests were responsible for the massive voter fraud that occurred in the last presidential election should give us cause to re-evaluate our relationship with that country. If Mr. Karzai's claim is true, then what legitimate role is the U.S. playing there? If it is false, then it's obvious we do not have a reliable partner for what we are doing there. So far no U.S. officials have addressed the real bogeyman in Afghanistan, the drug trade that feeds the Karzai government's corruption.

It's been one week since the U.S. House of Representatives nearly voted to end the war in Afghanistan. In that time, the U.S. has apologized for a NATO air strike that killed 14 women and children , and Afghan president Hamid Karzai has issued a "last warning" for the U.S. to stop bombing houses. "If after the Afghan government said the aerial bombing of Afghan houses is banned and if it continues, then their presence will change from...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's foreign minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, lost a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday after he was unable to stop the expulsion of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees and illegal workers from Iran in the past three weeks. Spanta was blamed for failing to find a diplomatic solution with Iran that would have prevented the expulsions. He won only 73 votes, while 141 legislators voted against him. Iran has expelled thousands of Afghans before. But the number it expelled this time, more than 50,000, was high for such a short period.

The more I read about Afghanistan, the more concerned I become about the contending factions faced by President Hamid Karzai's government and the American forces trying to support it. We have spent $471 million to complete the Afghanistan Dam project, begun in the early 1950s to provide electricity, and the $6 billion we have spent over the past decade to combat the opium trade has helped finance the insurgency and fueled government corruption....

KABUL, Afghanistan - Twenty-one people, including two senior Defense Ministry commanders, were killed in heavy factional fighting overnight in the western province of Herat, in another upset for Afghanistan as it prepares for elections, Afghan officials said yesterday. In what appeared to be coordinated attacks, forces from three neighboring provinces moved on districts in Herat Province, the fief of the powerful warlord Ismail Khan. Fighting involving artillery and tanks was continuing south of the city of Herat, around Shindand yesterday afternoon, said Mohammadullah Afzali, the Foreign Ministry representative in Herat.

By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King and M. Karim Faiez and Laura King,LOS ANGELES TIMES | July 24, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, died yesterday, plunging his battered country into mourning and inspiring a wave of wistful nostalgia for better days. He was 92. Zahir Shah, an ineffectual yet beloved monarch, spent nearly three decades in genteel exile after being ousted in a palace coup in 1973. He returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban, and although he played no significant political role, he served for many as an emblem of the country's yet-unrealized hopes for rebuilding.